Though it stills seems to be suffering the slings and arrows of a difficult development process – Natalie Portman has just passed on the female lead – Danny Boyle’s film about Steve Jobs is slowly coming together. Now Boyle has his eye on Jeff Daniels to play a key figure from Jobs’ past, John Sculley.
Who he? He, in real life was the man in charge of Apple before Jobs returned to run the place. He’s one of the people interviewed by Walter Isaacson for his biography of Jobs and met with scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin when he was researching the adaptation, which will focus on three big product launches in the Apple man's career.
According to The Wrap, Michael Fassbender has locked in a deal to play Jobs, while Seth Rogen is close to signing on as Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple back in the day. As for Daniels, there’s no official offer yet, but as he’s right at the top of Boyle’s choices to play Sculley, negotiations are likely to kick off soon. And the role of former Mac marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, which Portman was considering, is one that still needs filling.
Daniels, who plays the lead on Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom, is about to see that show wrap up. Film-wise, he’s back on screen in Dumb And Dumber To and will work on Ridley Scott’s The Martian. With Universal backing the film, Boyle hopes to start shooting on **Jobs **next spring.